Warlock (The Warlock's Hairy Heart)
A warlock is the main character and villain protagonist of wizarding tale The Warlock's Hairy Heart, written by Beedle the Bard and included in . He was described as rich, young, handsome, and talented in the magical arts. However, he was also cold and aloof, considering love to be a weakness, and therefore went to unspeakable lengths to stop himself falling in love. Biography Removal of his heart Believing that love is a useless thing that weakens one's power, the warlock tried to use Dark Arts to stop himself from falling in love. He removed his heart and placed it in an enchanted crystal casket. Unaware of his secret, the warlock's wealthy parents ridiculed him for his aloof nature, while the warlock looked down on his peers for falling in love and producing offspring. In due time, his parents passed away, which he did not mourn for them, and upon inheriting his late parents' castle, he transferred his encased heart deep within the castle's dungeons, while keeping himself alive without the vital organ inside his body. From thereon, he became contemplate with his solitude, believing that being literally heartless is his sense of comfort and security. Throughout his time, there were many women who sought his affection, for his handsomeness, wealth and talent, but due to his literal heartlessness, none of them managed to reach him. Courtship of the maiden Initially content with his solitude, the Warlock was taunted by his servants that no woman would love him despite his wealth. His pride wounded, the Warlock decides to find a beautiful, wealthy, and powerfully magical wife, so that he would be envied by all. He meets such a maiden the very next day. The maiden was fascinated as well as repelled by the Warlock, but agrees to attend a feast at his castle. The Warlock attempts to flatter her by plagiarising from poets, but she confronts him saying that she would only believe these lovely words if he had a heart. So the Warlock takes her down to the dungeon of the castle and shows her the enchanted crystal casket, within which lay his own, still beating heart. The maiden's murder Due to the fact that the heart has been parted from its owner’s body for so long, it has become shrivelled and hairy. The maiden asked him to put the heart back inside his chest; seeing it as an act necessary to please her to win her over, he did as she requested. The maiden is so pleased that she runs forwards and embraces him. However, the heart had become horrible and wicked in the long time that it was separated from the body. The touch of her arms, the sound of her breath in its master's ear, and the scent of her golden hair pierced it, making the Warlock murder the witch. Death Later, guests at his castle found the Warlock was sitting crouched over the maiden, caressing and licking her heart, while she lay dead with her chest cut open. He was trying to swap her heart with his; however, his hairy heart was strong, and would not allow it. Not wanting to be controlled by his heart, the Warlock grabbed a silver dagger, and cut open his chest, and ripped it out. For a brief moment, the Warlock knelt victorious as he held a heart in each hand, before he fell over the maiden's corpse, and died. Relationships The Maiden The Warlock met the maiden who answered his every wish the day she arrived in the neighbourhood to visit her kinsfolk. Despite the fact that he felt nothing for her, the Warlock considered her as the prize he sought, and started to court her. He invites the young maiden to a feast in his castle, in which he speaks to her using sweet and caring words the got from a poet, meanings of which he has no idea. She accepted his invitation, even though she was fascinated and repulsed at him, and confronts him saying that she would only believe the lovely words if he proved he had a heart. The Warlock then took her to the deepest dungeon to show his most valuable treasure, his own beating heart. The maiden was terrified by the shrunken, hair-covered heart, and told the Warlock to put it back in his chest. Once he had done so, however, she incorrectly believed that he is healed and is now capable of true love, while the smell of her hair as well as the beauty of her skin pierced his newly awakened heart. The maiden is then brutally murdered at the hands of the Warlock, in a failed attempt to exchange his hairy heart for hers. Parents Unaware of his secret, the Warlock's parents ridiculed his cold and aloof behaviour, and incorrectly believed that he would change once he can find true love. In due course, they died. The Warlock did not mourn them; he considered himself blessed by their demise, as he now reigned alone in their castle and could transfer his greatest treasure to the deepest dungeon, without their knowledge and interference. Peers The Warlock observed that his friends became foolish as they fell in love, therefore did not want to not fall prey to such weakness, resorting to the Dark Arts to cut out his own heart, so that he would never love. As his peers began to wed, and bring forth children, he deemed their parental antics as foolish, and then congratulated himself upon the wisdom of his early choice. When he put up a facade of a change of heart in his attempt to win the maiden's hand in marriage, his friends all bought his act and were impressed by it. Lackeys The Warlock was proud to have no wife, until he heard two of his lackeys discussing their master. The first lackey felt pity for the Warlock for he was beloved by nobody. The second lackey jeered, asking why a man with so much gold and a palatial castle has been unable to attract a wife. Their words made the Warlock lose his pride. To restore it, the Warlock wanted to find a wife superior to all others. The very next day, he met the Maiden. Physical appearance ]] The warlock is described to be young and handsome, with long, dark, and straight hair. However, his handsomeness belied his true nature of cold indifference. When his heart parted with his body for a long time, it grew shrivelled and hairy. Personality and traits The Warlock was a proud, arrogant, and cold young man who decided that falling in love would adversely affect his comfort and security. He sees love as a humiliation, a weakness, a drain on a person's emotional and material resources; not even the death of his parents saddened him at the very least. For fearing love, he went to the extreme to prevent himself from falling prey, by removing his heart via dark magic. He is pushed to search for "a wife superior to all others" only to salvage his pride, which was severely wounded when he overheard what his servants had to say about him. His long term separation with his heart has reduced his humanity as time went on, ultimately turning him into an unrestrained beast when he was reunited his shirvelled and hairy heart. The Warlock believes in eugenics, as one of his reasons to desire a wife of powerful magical abilities is so their children would inherit such powers to leave behind a strong legacy for the warlock to take pride in. He also believes in money is the source of happiness, as he desired a wealthy wife to assure his comfort in spite of the addition to his household. After returning his heart into his body, he did not feel any remorse for killing the maiden on a bestial impulse, instead he was trying to take her heart as a replacement. At the end of the story, the Warlock had turned mad, and killed himself so he would never be mastered by his own heart. Magical abilities and skills *'Magical Mastery:' At the very beginning of the story, the Warlock was already said to be magically talented, and therefore it can be deduced that he is a skilful wizard. The fact that he successfully used the Dark Arts to remove his heart while managing to keep himself alive and functioning could also be seen as a testament to his being a prodigy in magic. However, it must be noted that this ability is considered impossible outside of a storybook, though it is somewhat similar to how Horcruxes operate. His inability to understand the potent magic of love became his downfall. *'Dark Arts:' Among the stated talents he possess over magic, the warlock was highly adept and proficient in the Dark Arts. He performed a piece of Dark Magic that was considered impossible outside of a storybook: he removed his own heart and locked it up both physically and metaphorically to prevent himself from falling in love, while maintaining his own life without the vital organ within his body. However, this act also invoked the First Law of the Fundamental Laws of Magic, as his heart grew shrivelled and hairy, a sign of his humanity lost, showcasing his ignorance and downfall. *'Consummate Actor:''' The warlock has proven himself to be a skilled and charismatic actor, successfully persuading almost everyone that he has changed, charming the maiden's family into believing that the two are the most compatible pair, and plagiarising a poet's sweet words (which he has no understanding of) in an attempt to seduce her. Only the maiden herself was perceptive enough to see through his charade. Appearances * Notes and references es:Brujo (El Corazón Peludo del Brujo) Category:Dark wizards Category:Deaths by stabbing Category:Deaths by suicide Category:Fictional characters Category:Males Category:Murderers Category:The Tales of Beedle the Bard Category:Warlock family Category:Warlocks